Snakes and Ladders

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Snakes and ladders is a games which is played by children and patient adults all over the world. The game started in India and originally had more snakes than ladders. It must have been so difficult to reach the final square! When the game came to England, the Victorians levelled up the number of snakes and ladders.

Progress is decided by the throw of a dice. A six is not always desirable if if lands the player at the top of a snake, or a ‘one’ could be desired if it leads to the bottom of a ladder.

Sometimes it is said about our lives, they are controlled by the throw of a dice. Success or failure seems to be random. The wicked thrive and the good suffer. But the Psalmist urges us not to envy them. ‘Fret not yourself because of evil men, or be envious of those who do wrong. Psalm 37: God has it all in control. I read in the Bible ‘Our I know the plans I have for you, declared the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to warm you , plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 So nothing random there.

Looking back on history we can see that sometimes good results come from bad beginnings and bad things happen after a good start. So it is today that wisdom is needed and human beings don’t have enough to be able to make the right decisions. They don’t know the end from the beginnings. Only God knows. We need to cry out for His wisdom.

Thankfulness

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Recently on our world political stage the question of thankfulness has arisen. Is one nation thankful to another? Leaving behind the world situation we turn to our own small lives, do we show enough thankfulness, especially to God?

Children who have been brought up well, at an early stage are taught to say to say ‘please’ and ‘thankyou,’ Have you said to your own child or heard it said, ‘What’s the magic word?, ‘ hoping for a thankyou or please from them. It seems it is no longer expected for a child to say thankyou for a birthday or Christmas present. Sad. Should they still receive the gift, I ask myself? Even with declining manners we still like people to hold the door open for us or we let someone go before us in a queue..

Do these declining trends mean we don’t give thanks to God who has given us everything? God has given us every blessing to enjoy. Read the psalms, The Psalmist has gratitude flowing out of him. ‘Praise the Lord, O my soul, let all that is within me praise His holy name.’ Psalm 103:1. We look at the many hymns praising God ”Oh for a thousand tongues to sing my great redeemer’s praise.’ Written by Charles Wesley and maybe prompted by Psalm 35:28. He sounds completely overwhelmed with praise and thanksgiving to God.

Some people keep a praise diary, others sing in lofty cathedrals. My dictionary tells me the word ‘praise’ is ‘high approval’, ‘laudation,’ ‘worship.’ ‘to express approval of,’ ‘to glorify.’ That doesn’t cover a fraction of our praise and thanks to God.

Power from on High

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David was obviously a good shepherd, maybe one of the best in his area, but he wasn’t ready to be the great king that God wanted him to be. He needed the power of the Holy Spirit to give him the strength and wisdom that was required.

Joshua had an almost impossible task since he had been chosen by God to succeed Moses. Moses had led millions of the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt. During forty years he had led, guided and directed a most difficult nation. Moses had an extraordinarily close relationship with God. How could Joshua possibly succeed this great man? The answer is in Joshua 1:5 ‘As I have been with Moses, so I will be with you, I will never leave you, nor forsake you.

We too are called, maybe not to lead a nation, but called to obedience to God, whatever that will look like for us. Matthew 28:20 gives us the secret for success, ‘So surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’

Think on These

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‘I see the sights that dazzle, the tempting sounds i hear,’ J .E. Bode. 24/7 Daily we are interacting with the world, it’s attitudes, problems and outlooks. But beware, the world will bleed us dry; it takes and doesn’t give. We need an antidote to keep us on an even keel. God gives us that in the words of Philippians 4.

In verse 8 Paul asks us to think on ‘whatever is true.’ This is a difficult aim in these days of mis-information. How much can we believe of what we hear and read? If today Pilate asked, ‘What is truth,’ he would get a very confused answer. In the face of these lies and mistruths we can pray, ‘Lord, keep our minds focused on You.’

‘Whatever is pure, think on these things.’ The Lord’s name is continuously being used as a swear word. Give us the courage to call out this evil practice so that at the name of Jesus every kneel will bow.

Think on what is lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy. Quietly sit and watch the butterflies getting nectar, listen to the bird song and babbling waters, watch the wind swaying the trees. Feed your minds on God things. Be refreshed and renewed. Then goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life.

That One Book

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Genres of reading vary during the decades. Looking at the shelves of bookshops today I see a very large selection of ‘How To’, books which were not around in my younger days. ‘How to Make the Most of Yourself,’ ‘How to Achieve Anything you Want.’ We now teach our children that they can achieve anything, so long as they try hard enough. There will be great disappointment in this attitude. It’s not true. We all have a ceiling of capability and we can’t exceed that however hard we try. .

I would suggest that to learn how to live well we only need one book, although it’s actually 66 books, all bound together. We have many brilliant writers in the world producing excellent books but they are all limited. The thought is that by reading as many as possible we can pull ourselves up ‘by our own shoe laces.’ Have you ever tried it, it’s impossible. To pull ourselves up we need some external help. There is Someone who can help us. because He is so much higher than we are and He can pull us up to Himself.

This book, the Bible, is full of wisdom, look at the Proverb, full of help and comfort, see the Gospels and the epistles letters and the book that indicates a final success (Revelation) The Bible is so much more, our limited space can’t explain it all. The author of the Bible can see everything from every point of view. So save your money and buy and read the Book of Holy Scriptures today, let it be your guide.

In God’s Eyes

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We don’t see anything as God does, our minds are too finite. We don’t see people as God does, we are too judgmental. How often do we write people off without knowing all the facts about their lives. Someone we think of as unimportant could be the very best person for the job. There is a good example of this in the 16th chapter of 1 Samuel.

Samuel has the job of anointing a new king of Israel because King Saul has fallen from grace in Gods eyes. This is an extremely important and difficult task as Samuel doesn’t know who God has chosen.

Off he goes to the household of Jessie, the Benjaminite. Jessie has eight sons, all strapping young lads and in Samuel’s eyes, all eminently suitable to be the next king. When he sees the eldest, Eliab, he thinks he has found the man, but he is not God’s chosen one. Nor were the next six. God had chosen David, the youngest. I love it when I read that when David had been anointed, ‘the spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward.’ verse 3.

From this I learn that even I, or you can be used by God. As the saying goes, ‘God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.’ From this we learn that God doesn’t judge as we do. We are not in a position to judge when we don’t know the full story of someone’s life. We will never know their soul’s longings. It is up to us to try to love them as God does.

Now

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At the Last Supper Jesus is ready to give His final tutorial to His disciples. There are only a few hours left for Him to share with them all they need to be prepared for. There must have been so many things He wanted to tell them and so little time.

But first there was the momentous problem of Judas ‘s betrayal to be dealt with. Jesus knew that this disciple was the tool of His destruction. His final words were not to be for Judas but to His loyal disciples. Judas had to be dismissed. ”What you are about to do, do quickly.’ Judas left, immediately after having taken the bread representing Christ’s body.

Verse 31of tells us, ‘When he was gone, Jesus said, ‘Now.’ It was as if the mammoth problem had been coped with and now Jesus could get on with the teaching and comforting of the disciples. I can imagine Jesus giving a sigh of dismissal.

The Last will be First

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Any good preacher will know if they can give an illustration to make their point, it is more likely to be remembered. Thinking of His many parables, Jesus was the greatest illustration-giver. In Matthew 20 we have the story of the labourers in the vineyard. Whether they had worked one hour or eleven they received the same wages.

The calling of my church is to help those who are homeless. My part in the team is to pray. The response has been so great that we are near a revival. Having been brought up in a Christian home and having accepted Jesus as my Saviour in my late teens, I am like the labourers who have worked for the eleven hours. During those ‘eleven hours’ I’ve had the privilege of knowing God’s comfort, guidance and love. Our homeless guests who are now flooding into our church haven’t known this comfort during their up-bringing. Now at their eleventh hour they are aware of God’s blessings into their lives. In their ‘one hour’ they are working hard for the Lord. They are taking part in various activities of the church – making tea, tidying up and other tasks. They are so happy to be completely accepted and part of the church and God’s blessings. You can see it in their eyes and lives.

In Matthew 9 we have the story of the labourers in the vineyard. Whether a man had worked one hour or eleven they all received the same wages.

The special calling of my church is to help those who are homeless. It used to be that I could physically help but now it is my role to prayer. We are witnessing a mini revival. Having been brought up in Christian home and giving my life to Jesus as an older teenager, I am like the labours who have given many hours of Christian service. During my ‘eleven house’ I’ve had the privelege pf knowing God’s comfort, guidance and love. Mine has been a life of blessing.

Our homeless guests who are flooding into our church have not known this blessing. Often their up-bringing has been tramatic , they have not know etability and security. Now at the eleventh hour they are open to God’s blessings in their lives.

Human, yet Divine

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We know throughout the Bible that God is divine, but when we meet Jesus in the New Testament we learn that He also became human.

We read in Mark 4 that He was tired. What a human reaction. We are often tired and weary but Jesus said ‘Come to me you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.’ Matthew 11:28 .’ Jesus was tempted by the devil in Matthew 4:6 ‘If You are the Son of God command that these stones become loaves of bread.’ A temptation to use His heavenly powers to satisfied a human need. Forty days fasting in the wilderness was a hungry business. On another occasion when Jesus was in the temple He saw His house of worship being used by shop keepers and those out to exploit the poor. He was humanly angry and overturned the table of money. On behalf of His heavenly Father He was outraged.

At His trial he was beaten and scourged, being the Son of God, didn’t stop Him from bleeding and great pain being inflicted on His body. When He was whipped and scourged, He bled. His feet were sore after much walking. He washed His disciples feet, but I wonder who washed His. They were human feet, dirty and sore. His discomfort was as bad as His disciples. After His resurrection he cooked His disciples breakfast on the beach. How wonderful that fish must have tasted!

Jesus was divine yet very human.

Storms

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With our weather becoming more unpredictable, we are getting used to having storms. I have a friend who because of her decreased mobility can’t go out in the windy weather. I now check the wind speed each day and notice the days she will have to stay indoors. I try to phone or visit.

When the winds do abate we seem to take extra notice of the calm and stillness. Maybe we would never appreciate the quiet days if we hadn’t had the boisterous ones. Our natures are so feeble that we don’t appreciate things until we lose them.

Storms in nature, storms in life, both will arise, but our spiritual upsets don’t have to be faced alone. The psalms are full of God’s assurances that He is always with us. If we could only take one book on our ‘Desert Island’ surely the Book of Psalms would be enough. We could meditate one psalm each day and five months would be filled with blessings. Then we could start again!

‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1. ‘Blessed are all who take refuge in Him,’ Ps 2:12. What a lovely word is ‘refuge.’ Maybe we don’t use it so much today, but our refuge in God is absolutely secure.